Trading, deposits and withdrawals of other cryptocurrencies will remain operational on the exchange. It said it would transfer to being a “crypto-only exchange”.
It appeared to urge customers to withdraw or exchange their US dollars before the freeze came into force. “We encourage customers to take appropriate action with their USD,” the exchange said.
The exchange insisted it would continue to maintain a one-to-one ratio of deposits to reserves. It cautioned the exchange could be subject to downtime because of “elevated volumes”.
The offshore group set up Binance.US, an American subsidiary, after its main exchange was banned in 2019.
Regulators have unleashed a sweeping crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges following the implosion of FTX, the second largest digital coin exchange, last year.
The warning from Binance came as Moody’s, the credit rating agency, downgraded its rating of Coinbase from “stable” to “negative”.
Coinbase, which is valued at $12bn (£9.6bn) and listed in the US, was also sued earlier this week by US regulators and accused of selling unregistered securities.
The ratings agency said the change “reflects the uncertain magnitude of impact the SEC’s charges will have on Coinbase’s business model and cash flows”.
Nansen, the cryptocurrency analysis company, said Binance’s global exchange had suffered around $1.9bn in net outflows over the last seven days, and $348m over the past 24 hours.
